Beverage company, brandhouse, is empowering the unemployed – with business plans that will make strong brands

The greatest crisis South Africa faces is the chronic unemployment levels that threaten the sustainability and stability of the economy. It is time for all corners of our society to join forces to ensure entrepreneurship is boosted, as it is a means to create employment.

Currently, any start-ups or new businesses tend to fail; and at this point, it has been recorded that there is a 96% failure rate because the establishment of businesses is more out of necessity than genuine opportunities.

According to a press release by GreenQueen Communications, “Allon Raiz, chief executive officer of Raizcorp – a company heavily involved in supporting entrepreneurs – recognised the deep need and became committed to providing existing and potential small business owners (small, medium and micro enterprises – SMMEs) to entrepreneurial thinking and knowledge.

“He designed a dynamic programme, born out of a GIBS [Gordon Institute of Business Science] thought leadership weekend, which was taken up by brandhouse, which adopted the idea and became the headline sponsor of the programme.”

Diamond in the rough

In order to contribute to employment through entrepreneurship, a series of workshops called “brandhouse Pitch & Polish”, was launched in 2010 throughout the country.

Said Raiz: “I believed in the powerful format, but was astonished at the level of excitement at each workshop and the fantastic feedback from both competitors and audience.”

Because of this success, a second series started in July this year.

The programme is structured in a similar manner as the much-loved Idols competition, where competitors have to perform and the audience gives a rating: the audience members are primed to act as venture capitalists, investors and bankers and decide if they would invest in the entrepreneur – the contestant – after she or he has presented or ‘pitched’ the business idea.

The competition, which is guided by a facilitator, tends to educate both the audience and the competitors because they gain valuable information on the best way to present strong presentations based on good, solid business ideas and how the competitors approach the audience: tone, clarity of voice, their ability to actively engage the audience, and body language.

The “unique combination of training, audience participation and competition” makes brandhouse Pitch & Polish one of the most stimulating business events of the year.

In creating the workshops, one of Raizcorp’s prime objectives for 2011 is to help smaller towns and cities to move forward in the wake of the recession.

These workshops have been held in Vereeniging, Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Rustenburg, East London and Khayelitsha.

Five contestants and a judge will be drawn from each town; the balance of the judges will be from Raizcorp.

The semifinals and final will be held in Johannesburg in late September.

Opportunity posed a few questions to Raiz, regarding the hindrances experienced by start-ups:

What is the greatest cause of failure in SMMEs?

Most small businesses just give up: the pain of rejection, no cash flow and the hard grind seem to take new entrepreneurs by surprise.

Small businesses do not properly anticipate the time it actually takes to build a business to profitability.

While most research indicates that SMMEs would greatly contribute to the economy, why has there been such a dismal approach to supporting this aspect of business?

There is a great effort by the government and the private sector alike to assist small businesses. Unfortunately, many of those who are employed to assist the entrepreneurs do not have the adequate skills and experience.

In your own words, what is the importance of investing in SMMEs? And who should be investing in SMMEs?

SMMEs can become big businesses if nurtured well.

We need to be constantly investing into the new start-ups to maintain the steady flow of businesses that can ultimately become the large businesses of the future. This is, of course, where jobs and wealth are created.

What would be most vital when an individual approached a venture capital company, in terms of the company seeing the merit in the proposal or presentation?

An individual should remember the following:

• Make sure you have done your homework;

• Keep the slides to a minimum;

• Prepare your elevator pitch;

• Sell yourself more than your plan;

• Do not include market-related salaries in your business plan;

• Investors are conservative;

• Investors like barriers to entry;

• Investors prefer businesses that can be scaled easily;

• Know your funder’s “flavour”;

• Understand your investor’s expectations; and

• Know the true cost of having an investor.

Can you explain how Pitch & Polish came about, and what the driving force behind it is?

The Pitch & Polish concept was developed in response to a challenge by Professor Nick Binedell of GIBS. His challenge was to create practical ideas to assist people in rural and peri-urban areas who, unlike their counterparts in urban areas, have access to fewer resources and are struggling to respond to the global financial crisis.

What kind of results will come out of this competition?

Contestants making it through the various rounds win cash prizes along the way, with the final prize being R25 000 in cash and R25 000 in unit trusts.

The finalists will furthermore have the opportunity to pitch their business or business idea to a room full of already successful entrepreneurs.

The winner of the 2010 competition ended up raising more than R1 million for her business.

Pitch & Polish provides the platform, but it is up to the entrepreneur to follow through and make a success.

Is there any follow-up after the winner has been announced?

Many opportunities present themselves to the winner, which is up to him/her to take advantage of.

For more information, contact Jodi Karpes from GreenQueen Communications:

Tel: +27 (0) 11 728 4729

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.greenqueen.co.za

Tracee Harvard